Method of doll assembly



A ril 23,1935. H. M. DODGE 1,998,864

METHOD OF DOLL ASSEMBLY Filed Jul 5, 19:54

Patented Apr.23,1935 l r 1,998,864

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF DOLL ASSEMBLY Howard M. Dodge, Akron, Ohio, assignor to The B. F. Goodrich Company, New York, N. Y., a

corporation of New York Application July 5, 1934, Serial No. 733,820

9 Claims. (Cl. 46-40) This invention relates to dolls and more partoward the central aperture so as completely to ticularly to dolls of the jointed type. It is espefill the annular groove. The arrangement is such cially useful in the manufacture of jointed dolls that the stiffened portions of the body around of rubber material. the annular grooves strongly resist such stretch- The principal objects of the invention are to ing of the section as would be necessary to re- 5 improve the appearance and operation of the, move the limb, while rotation of the limb in its doll, to. reduce the cost of manufacture, and to socket is permitted. provide greater security in the fastening of the The meeting surfaces of the limb and body parts. socket being almost perpendicular to the sur- Other objects will appear from the following face of the body, no unsightly gap appears be- 10 description and the accompanying drawing. tween the limb and the body and slight imper- Of the drawing: fections such as rounding off of the socket edge Fig. 1 is a side view of the complete doll in its a e y tumbling are t as pp preferred form. The sockets are preferably so proportioned with Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2 2 relation to the limb that the shank of the pro- 5 of Fig. 1 showing the preferred form of joint tuberance and the walls surrounding the socket construction, parts being broken away. are under tension when the limb is in place.

Fig. 3 is a similar View of a modified form of When the limbs are to be assembled to the the invention. a body, the socket may be distorted as by pressure Fig. 4-. is a fragmentary detail view of a furappli locally from Within the body SO a to 20 ther modification. project the protuberance beyond the body. The

Referring to the drawing, the doll illustrated limb is then forced over the button of the proin Fig. 1 is formed with a one piece hollow head tuberance.

ll, arms l2, and legs i 3. These parts are pref- When the protuberance is made of resilient erably all molded from soft vulcanized rubber material, the limb may be made of rigid matealthough the head may be either rigid or flexrial. It is therefore possible with this Construcible as desired and it is possible to use rigid tion to use rigid limbs and a rigid head with a material for the limbs. pliable rubber body.

The body I!) is preferably closed except for Where the limbs are made of soft rubber, an opening M at the neck for removal of the greater resistance to Withdrawal of the limbs may 30 core when the body is molded. The neck portion be accomplished either by making the buttons is provided with a flange l5 over which the head Zi of rigid material such as hard rubber inl I is buttoned. tegrally molded to the soft rubber, as illustrated As the outer surface of the body is formed in in Fig. 3, or by use of a separate rigid washer 23 5 a split mold which causes a rhind to form at its of metal or other material embracing the shank parti l t s rhind u t be v d du g of the protuberance below the button w, as ilthe finishing 0f t body. The most economical lustrated in Fig. 4. Such washers may be split et od of removing the rhind is y a tumbling on one side to permit their being passed over the operation but this tends to wear away projectshank,

mg ridges and COIIIEYS, interfering With the fit of When it is desired to employ a soft rubber head 40 t e limbs t0 the hOdY. In Order that this y greater security than that afforded by the soft not noticeably affect the appearance of the doll rubber flange l5 may be secured, and at the same a d to provide greater Secu y of the limbs to time permit removal of the body core through the y Without the Presence of unsightly p the opening M, by employing a separate button ings, the body walls are thickened at the shoulor connector 24 having a rigid flange 25 and a, 45

ders I 6 and hips I1 and formed with annular resilient h k 26, grooves 9 d fi a preferably sp a In order to permit air to pass from one of the ss hav a central p tu a mpri a parts to another to overcome sustained collapse flexible shank 2i] and an enlarged button 2|. of the parts when flattened, a, central passage The cross sectional shape of the groove is gen- 21 may be formed through each button, 50

erally dove-tailed or widened toward its bot- I claim: tom. The limb members are formed with a com- 1. A joint between two parts of a doll, one of p m tal u d d, p f rab y sph r al, end 22 said parts being formed with a hollow rounded having a central aperture to embrace the shank ntrally apertured end, the other part being of the protuberance, their walls being thickened formed with a deep rounded socket for rotatably 55 engaging said first-named part and an integral elastic protuberance located in the socket and adapted to engage in the aperture of the first named part, said protuberance having a head adapted to retain said first-named part in the socket.

2. A joint between two parts of a doll, one of said parts being formed with a hollow rounded centrally apertured end, the other part being formed with a deep rounded socket for rotatably engaging said first-named part and an integral elastic protuberance located in the socket and adapted to engage in the aperture of the first named part with the protuberance in stretched condition, said protuberance having a head adapted to retain said first named part in the socket.

3. A joint between two parts of a doll,- one of said parts being formed with a hollow elastic rounded centrally apertured end, the other part being formed with a deep rounded socket for r0- tatably engaging said first-named part and an integral protuberance located in the socket and adapted to engage in the aperture of the first named part, said protuberancehaving a rigid head adapted to retain said first named part in the socket.

4. A joint between two parts of a doll, one of said parts being formed with a hollow elastic rounded centrally-apertured end, the other part being formed with a rounded socket for rotatably engaging said first-named part and an integral elastic protuberance located inthe socket and adapted to engage in the aperture of the first named part with the protuberance in stretched condition, said protuberance having a rigid head adapted to retain said first-named part in the socket. l

5. A joint between two parts of a doll, one of said parts being formed with a hollow rounded centrally apertured end, the walls adjacent the central aperture being thickened toward the aperture, the other part being made of resilient material formed with a rounded socket for rotatably engaging said first-named part and an integral resilient protuberance located centrally of said socket to engage in the aperture of the first named part and having a head adapted to retain said first named part.

6. A joint between two parts of a doll, one of said parts being formed with a hollow rounded end having a central aperture, the walls of said end increasing in thickness toward the aperture, the other of said parts being formed with an annular groove defining a central undercut protuberance, said groove widening towards its bottom to correspond with the walls of said firstnamed part which it is adapted to receive, at least one of said parts being of resilient material topermit assembly of the parts.

'7. A joint between two parts of a doll, at least one part of which is made of resilient material, said joint comprising a rigid button element having an elastic shank portion.

8. A joint between two parts of a doll, at least one part of which is made of resilient material, said joint comprising a resilient button attached to the other portion by an elastic shank of reduced diameter, and a rigid washer embracing the shank below the button to provide rigidity to the button.

9. A doll comprising a hollow soft rubber body open only at the neck, the walls of said body being substantially stiffened at the shoulders and hips, an annular socket defining a central protuberance formed at each hip and shoulder, said protuberances having enlarged button heads, and limb members having hollow attaching ends adapted to fit said annular sockets and centrally apertured toengage over said buttons.

HOWARD M. DODGE. 

